Two 16-year-old boys have been charged with murder in adult court for allegedly shooting and killing a woman as she slept in her home.
Daniel G. Garcia and Tre’von Jordan Zamora, both of Ogden, are charged with first-degree felony murder for the shooting death of 47-year-old Maria Sanchez.
Charging documents say that police responded to Sanchez’s Ogden home at 12:11 a.m. on Aug. 13 near Grant Avenue and 28th Street, where she had been shot in the head while sleeping. Sanchez was taken to the hospital where she later died.
Witnesses told police they’d seen three males on the corner of those streets, and surveillance video from a nearby Maverik convenience store showed the three purchasing drinks before the shooting, charges state.
Police found two of the drinks — a Gatorade bottle and a fountain drink — left at the corner where witnesses reported seeing the males.
The males walked from the corner to Sanchez’s house, police said, and while standing outside the home fired seven rounds into the residence. Following the shooting, the group ran west, charges state, and “minutes later” a person called 911 reporting three males in his backyard.
When police arrived, they identified Garcia as one of the people in the Maverik surveillance video, wearing the same clothing and baseball hat, charges say. The other two suspects were also identified by police.
The third person was an adult who was questioned and cleared in this case, according to Ogden police Capt. Danielle Croyle. He was, however, detained in relation to a different case, Croyle said.
He originally denied being at the convenience store and any involvement with the shooting, but later admitted to police that he was at the store with Zamora and Garcia. He told detectives that he was at the home where the shooting occurred, but that the other two shot at the home, charges state. He did not disclose why the teens targeted the residence.
Zamora told police that Garcia shot at the residence, and messages on Zamora’s cell phone showed he had been talking about the shooting and needed a ride to get away from the scene, charges say. One of the messages sent by Zamora said, “I did that,” according to charges.
“Immediately” after the shooting, Zamora deleted all messages, phone calls and internet searches, charges state. In Zamora’s home, police found drug paraphernalia, a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition that matched casings found at the scene of the shooting.
Garcia told police in an interview that he, Zamora and the other man discussed “shooting up the house,” and that he and Zamora were the shooters. Garcia said he shot six rounds at the house with a .22-caliber revolver, charges state, and that Zamora used a 9 mm handgun.
Garcia told detectives he’d hidden his gun on Doxey Street and that he’d hidden his clothing in a residential garbage can, charges state. But police who searched the area did not find either Garcia’s clothing or his revolver.
Both teens were charged Friday in 2nd District court with murder, a first-degree felony, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony. Zamora was also charged with purchase, transfer, possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
The two teens were being held in the Weber Valley Detention Center, Croyle said last week. Both Zamora and Garcia are scheduled for an initial court appearance Wednesday.
